Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 (10.1-inch) Review

Lately, we’ve seen Lenovo develop right into a extra consumer-friendly, mobile-focused company. Maybe to assist relate to users, the company join forces with Ashton Kutcher to work on the unique Yoga tablet line. The product of their collaboration created a novel Android tablet that helped users move away from the considerably bland route most tablet makers had been going. Leap forward to 2014, Lenovo has just a few new tablets below their belt. The Yoga 10 HD+, the TAB S8, the Yoga Tablet 2 Plus, in addition to 8 and 10-inch variants of the Yoga Tablet 2.

In the present day, we’re having a look on the Yoga Tablet 2 10.1-inch, to not be confused with the just lately-reviewed Yoga Tablet 2 Plus. How does this tablet stack up towards Lenovo’s latest high-finish offerings? We discover that out, and extra, in our complete overview of the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 10.1-inch.

DESIGN

Straying away from the familiar slab-of-glass tablets we’ve seen up to now, the Yoga Tablet 2 contains a distinctive design, much like what we’ve seen in previous Yoga tablets. The underside portion of the tablet is a little more cumbersome than the opposite three edges, due to the constructed-in kickstand.

The Yoga 2 is created from each plastic and aluminium, allowing for a premium in-hand really feel. It measures 10.04 x 7.20 x .28 inches and weighs 21.38 ounces, so it’s not the largest tablet on the market, however for these searching for one thing a bit larger than a 7-inch tablet, we expect 10.1-inches is the candy spot.

The entrance bezels are black, truly fizzling out to the silver edges of the tablet. The again of the gadget has a grooved texture to it that provides the tablet a novel feeling in-hand. Additionally round again, you’ll discover a camera module tucked away in the direction of the decrease portion of the again panel. Round the suitable facet, sits the microphone and 3.5mm headphone jack. The highest is totally naked, and the left edge has a Micro USB port, quantity rocker and energy button. Each the quantity rocker and energy button are very clicky, and are each textured, which makes them easy to find.

There are two primary hardware points that make this tablet stand out from the competition, the primary of which being the built-in adjustable stand. At first try, the stand could also be a bit difficult to detach from the tablet, however after just a few instances, it will get a lot simpler. The stand could be adjusted in a number of completely different angles, and regardless of which you decide to set it on, the tablet stays fairly sturdy all the time. The stand itself feels very sturdy, and we’ve got no reason to assume it gained’t final simply so long as the rest of the tablet’s hardware.

The second unique feature the Yoga 2 brings is entrance-going through speakers. Due to the blown-up backside section that homes the stand, Lenovo had extra room to suit larger audio system. These are Dolby Audio stereo speakers, and so they sit on each the underside proper and left parts of the entrance panel. We all know what you’re considering, “however… they’re no BoomSound audio system.” To be sincere, these audio system are very prime quality, and have low, distinguished bass and clear high tones. Total, the audio system are actually nice.

DISPLAY

The Yoga 2’s display is crisp, clear and provides an attention-grabbing decision that we don’t see on most Android tablets. It contains a 10.1-inch IPS LCD show with a 1920 x 1200 decision with a pixel density of 224 ppi. The colours are vivid and the saturation ranges are near excellent, making for an exquisite show. Sadly, in relation to textual content, there appears to be one thing wrong. Textual content isn’t as clear as we might have hoped, and each infrequently we are able to see a ghosting impact below the textual content. We’re undecided if the odd pixel density is inflicting it, however we simply know that the text isn’t as clear as it should be.

Out of doors visibility is nice, however not nice, just like most different tablets in the marketplace. If it helps in daylight, the display might be switched to a matte coloration profile, although it tends to change colours a bit when switched to this mode.

As for holding the tablet, the bezels on the left and proper sides are sufficiently big to carry it comfortably in your palms with out accidentally touching the screen. If you happen to have been to the touch the screen, although, it’s not the top of the world, because the tablet does a reasonably good job at hiding fingerprints on the screen. You’ll nonetheless want a cleansing fabric to make sure the screen isn’t too soiled, however in comparison with different tablet screens, it looks like we don’t have to wipe it off as usually.

HARDWARE

The Yoga 2 options an Intel Atom quad-core 1.33GHz 64-bit processor, 2GB of RAM, a non-removable 9600mAh battery, 16GB of on-board storage, in addition to Micro SD card growth for as much as 64GB. The Micro SD card slot is tucked away beneath the kickstand. It is a great location for the cardboard slot, because it helps make the looks of the system look way more clear. Nonetheless, we’re positive many users will overlook it because it’s tucked away so properly. The Yoga 2 can be utilizing an Intel HD graphics card. We’ll discuss extra about that in the case of performance.

PERFORMANCE

Utilizing a comparatively unproven processor is dangerous factor to incorporate in a tablet, and sadly, efficiency on the Yoga 2 isn’t all that nice. The Yoga 2 struggles with on a regular basis tasks like scrolling by way of net pages, switching tasks, and even unlocking the gadget. Efficiency is all-around laggy, and we discover ourselves unable to scroll in internet pages greater than we’d like. We discovered the webpage lag to be according to a number of browsers, even after each comfortable and onerous resets. To not point out, we actually struggled with the lock display. As a rule, once we unlock the gadget, we hear the gadget’s unlock sound, however nothing occurs… the display screen is caught on the lock display.

For many who want to see how the Yoga 2 performs in benchmark assessments, check out the gallery below. We all know benchmark assessments aren’t probably the most dependable tests out there, however they are often useful in some conditions.

The place the efficiency will get much more attention-grabbing is with gaming. Because of the Intel Graphics GPU, we had fairly a clean time enjoying graphic-intensive video games like Dead Trigger 2. In actual fact, our expertise with Dead Trigger 2 was one of many smoothest we’ve ever been part of on an Android tablet.

So, the person interface is quite sluggish, regardless that graphics performance and gaming is clean. It looks as if Lenovo must work one thing out when it comes to software optimization, as a result of that doesn’t actually make a lot sense to us.

CAMERA

The Yoga 2 comes with an 8MP rear-facing camera and a 1.6MP entrance-facing digicam. The entrance-facer is positioned dead-middle on the top bezel, making selfies super easy and comfy to take. Nonetheless, as we defined earlier than, the rear-facer is in an odd spot on the back of the machine. It’s on the underside left close to the kickstand, and we discovered ourselves having to move our left hand to a more uncomfortable place to take an image. Honestly, most rear-dealing with tablet cameras are within the top center portion of the system, as a result of that’s probably the most handy place for them. We might have favored to see the camera in a special location, however from a hardware standpoint, it is sensible why Lenovo positioned the camera the place they did.

In terms of picture high quality, the Yoga 2 doesn’t carry out that properly. Most pictures we took on the digital camera, whether we had been utilizing the front or rear-facer, got here out grainy, lacking intricate particulars, and lacked colour. Image high quality even suffered with indoor studio lighting. Low-gentle photos are dangerous as nicely, and we might recommend pulling out your telephone as an alternative of attempting to take an image with the tablet in relation to low-gentle. Out of doors photographs are a bit higher than low-gentle, although they’re nothing to brag about both. Each cameras are extraordinarily delicate to mild, making every image we took blown out.

We’re seeing an increasing number of tablet photographers daily, whether or not we prefer it or not. When you’re in search of an honest camera on a tablet, chances are you’ll need to stray away from the Yoga 2.

SOFTWARE

The Yoga 2 is operating a closely-skinned model of Android 4.4.2 KitKat. Compared to the final iteration on a Yoga tablet, not a lot has changed. The look is mostly still very flat, colourful, and reminds us rather a lot of iOS. Speaking of iOS, there is no such thing as a utility drawer on the Yoga 2. You’ll have to rely heavily on folders and grids of icons in your house display organization.

Much like we said in our Yoga 2 Pro review, Lenovo didn’t really include many software options to take advantage of the big 10.1-inch screen. The notification shade is stretched throughout all the display and the Latest Apps display is restricted to solely three apps at a time. We’d have preferred to see many extra massive display optimizations on this tablet.

There may be, nonetheless, one multitasking function we welcome to the Yoga 2. You’re in a position to place 4 apps on the display screen directly, identical to this tablet’s Samsung counterpart. It really works principally the identical way as Samsung’s Multi-Window, permitting you to position multiple apps on the display screen and resize them to your required measurement. Nonetheless, the multiwindow characteristic is limited to solely 6 inventory Lenovo applications. We’re hoping an replace from Lenovo can develop its compatibility, however on the time of this assessment, it’s nonetheless extremely limited.

The inventory Lenovo apps might use fairly a bit of labor. They’re a bit boring and uninspiring, and we’ve discovered different apps in Google Play that look and run a lot better than those included on the tablet. This can be true on many different tablets we see on the market, nevertheless it looks like Lenovo didn’t even attempt to obtain any type of originality of their purposes.

In all, the software program isn’t probably the most unique we’ve ever seen, and lacks fairly a couple of enhancements we’re used to seeing from different OEM’s. If Lenovo can get a bit extra creative with their software program overlay, we expect this can be a extra worthy competitor to different tablets available on the market.

BATTERY

A pair issues come to thoughts relating to tablet battery life – display-on time and standby time. For all of you highway warriors on the market, you’ll be happy to know that the Yoga 2 has distinctive battery life. Standby time will final a number of days, and display-on time can last as long as 5+ hours. We put the Yoga 2 via a benchmark battery check, and at last died after about thirteen hours of fixed use throughout the check. It’s top-of-the-line batteries we’ve seen on a tablet up to now.

In a world with a ton of various tablets to select from, standing out is all the things. Simply based mostly on the scale, construct high quality, screen, and audio system, we’d say that Lenovo does simply that. Nonetheless, you need to know what flaws the tablet brings earlier than making your buy. The software program is basically unoriginal, the cameras are nearly unusable, and the whole UI runs a bit gradual. If you will get over these negatives, you’ll have heck of a properly-constructed tablet.